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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > General
Why has communism's humanist quest for freedom and social justice
without exception resulted in the reign of terror and lies? The
authors of this collective volume address this urgent question
covering the one hundred years since Lenin's coup brought the first
communist regime to power in St. Petersburg, Russia in November
1917. The first part of the volume is dedicated to the varieties of
communist fantasies of salvation, and the remaining three consider
how communist experiments over many different times and regions
attempted to manage economics, politics, as well as society and
culture. Although each communist project was adapted to the
situation of the country where it operated, the studies in this
volume find that because of its ideological nature, communism had a
consistent penchant for totalitarianism in all of its
manifestations. This book is also concerned with the future. As the
world witnesses a new wave of ideological authoritarianism and
collectivistic projects, the authors of the nineteen essays suggest
lessons from their analyses of communism's past to help better
resist totalitarian projects in the future.
While the 'New Taliban' looms large in the global media, little is
known about how it functions as an organisation. How united is it?
Are its structures relatively strong, or surprisingly brittle? Are
personal relations and networking based on traditional ties of kin
and ethnicity the sum total of its organisational capabilities, or
are efforts underway to build more institutionalised chains of
command? How united is the New Taliban, and how does it maintain
whatever degree of unity it has, given the attrition it has
suffered in the field? And to what extent is its leadership able to
impose switches in strategy among the rank-andfile, given
Afghanistan's difficult geography and poor communications? These
are among the questions answered in this book by a renowned cast of
practitioners, journalists and academics, all of whom have long
field experience of the latest phase of the New Taliban's
insurgency in Afghanistan. Decoding the New Taliban includes a
number of detailed studies of specific regions or provinces, which
for different reasons are especially significant for the Taliban
and for understanding their expansion. Alongside these regional
studies, the volume includes thematic analyses of negotiating with
the Taliban, the Taliban's propaganda effort and its strategic
vision
After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Sufi shrines became highly
contested. Considered deviant and `un-Islamic', they soon fell
under government control as part of a state-led strategy to create
an `official', more unified, Islamic identity. This book, the first
to address the political history of Sufi shrines in Pakistan,
explores the various ways in which the postcolonial state went
about controlling their activities. Of key significance, Umber Bin
Ibad shows, was the `West Pakistan Waqf Properties Ordinance', a
governmental decree issued in 1959. Formed when General Ayub Khan
assumed the role of Chief Martial Law Administrator, this allowed
the state to take over shrines as `waqf property'. According to
Islamic law, a waqf, or charitable endowment, had to be used for
charitable or religious purposes and the state created a separate
Auqaf department to control the finances and activities of all the
shrines which were now under a state sponsored waqf system.
Focusing on the Punjab - famous for its large number of shrines -
the book is based on extensive primary research including
newspapers, archival sources, interviews, court records and the
official reports of the Auqaf department. At a time when Sufi
shrines are being increasingly targeted by Islamist extremists, who
view Sufism as heretical, this book sheds light on the shrines'
contentious historical relationship with the state. An original
contribution to South Asian Studies, the book will also be relevant
to scholars of Colonial and Post-Colonial History and Sufism
Studies.
Survival Skills for the Fire Chief examines the management mistakes
fire chiefs often make that compromise their effectiveness and
ability to manage and lead their fire departments. In his latest
book, Dr. Fleming, a nationally recognized authority on fire and
emergency services, provides the understanding necessary to enhance
the fire chief's success and that of his or her fire department.
The book's themes include understanding, meeting, and, where
possible, exceeding the reasonable expectations of fire department
stakeholders and preparing as a fire chief for professional,
personal, and organizational success.
Survival Skills for the Fire Chief is ideal for current and future
fire chiefs; participants in related college and university
courses; and participants in training programs, seminars, and
courses offered by fire and emergency services training agencies.
Executed by the British in 1916 for treason, Roger Casement is one
of Ireland's most colorful, mythologized, and controversial
figures. His infamous Black Diaries, with their homosexual
materials, were famously published by the Olympia Press in a
suspect edition in 1959. In 1903 when he was a British consul, he
left his base on the Lower Congo River and made a Conrad-like
journey through the "heart of darkness" regions of the Upper Congo
to personally investigate reports of alleged atrocities (Conrad
found Casement to be "most intelligent and sympathetic"). His
subsequent report gained him fame by exposing the appalling
cruelties of the colonial and commercial regime there, and was a
crucial instrument in the British government's efforts to bring
about change in King Leopold's Congo Free State. He later exposed
similar exploitation in Niger, Mozambique, and South America. This
carefully edited work brings together Casement's report, as well as
his diary of that year, with previously excised names restored and
explanatory notes provided. The editors provide an overview of
Casement's career and a thorough historical background to these
documents. Seamus O Siochain teaches at the National University of
Ireland and is completing a major biography of Casement. Michael
O'Sullivan was at Dublin City University until his death in 2002.
This important collection examines deportation as an increasingly
global mechanism of state control. Anthropologists, historians,
legal scholars, and sociologists consider not only the physical
expulsion of noncitizens but also the social discipline and labor
subordination resulting from deportability, the threat of forced
removal. They explore practices and experiences of deportation in
regional and national settings from the U.S.-Mexico border to
Israel, and from Somalia to Switzerland. They also address broader
questions, including the ontological significance of freedom of
movement; the historical antecedents of deportation, such as
banishment and exile; and the development, entrenchment, and
consequences of organizing sovereign power and framing individual
rights by territory.
Whether investigating the power that individual and corporate
sponsors have over the fate of foreign laborers in Bahrain, the
implications of Germany's temporary suspension of deportation
orders for pregnant and ill migrants, or the significance of the
detention camp, the contributors reveal how deportation reflects
and reproduces notions about public health, racial purity, and
class privilege. They also provide insight into how deportation and
deportability are experienced by individuals, including Arabs,
South Asians, and Muslims in the United States. One contributor
looks at asylum claims in light of an unusual anti-deportation
campaign mounted by Algerian refugees in Montreal; others analyze
the European Union as an entity specifically dedicated to governing
mobility inside and across its official borders. "The Deportation
Regime" addresses urgent issues related to human rights,
international migration, and the extensive security measures
implemented by nation-states since September 11, 2001.
"Contributors" Rutvica Andrijasevic, Aashti Bhartia, Heide
Castaneda, Galina Cornelisse, Susan Bibler Coutin, Nicholas De
Genova, Andrew M. Gardner, Josiah Heyman, Serhat Karakayali,
Sunaina Marr Maira, Guillermina Gina Nunez, Peter Nyers, Nathalie
Peutz, Enrica Rigo, Victor Talavera, William Walters, Hans-Rudolf
Wicker, Sarah S. Willen
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